Stop auctioning Singareni Coal Blocks: KCR to Modi as workers begin 3-day strike

Hyderabad: Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao has urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to stop auctioning four Coal Blocks in Singareni.

All worker unions have called for a three-day strike from Thursday to protest against the central government's decision to auction four Coal Blocks in Singareni.

Chief Minister has written a letter to Prime Minister requesting him to rollback the proposal.

Chief Minister said the Singareni Collieries Company is producing 65 million tonnes of coal every year and playing a key role in catering to the needs of Thermal Power Plants in Telangana, AP, Maharashtra, Karnataka, and Tamil Nadu states.

He said that after the bifurcation of the state, the power demand was 5,661 MW in 2014 in the state and by March 2021, it went up to 13,688 MWs. He said it is essential to supply coal uninterruptedly to generate power. He said the state government had issued several mining licenses, which the Centre is aware of and the Union Coal Ministry had also given a green signal.

Chief Minister urged PM Modi to stop the auction of JBROC-3, Sravanpally OC, Koya Gudem OC-3, and KK-6 UG Block under Union Ministry's Trench 13. He urged Modi to allocate these blocks to the Singareni Company.